How do I monitor/track progress?

My achievement challenge is to lift the achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Maori students. I have attempted to do this by focusing on vocabulary acquisition.

Even though PAT tests will only be conducted in term 4, I am able to formally track the progress of my students by using e-asTTle tests each term.

The mid-year e-asTTle data showed that 87.5% (or 21 students) were working within their curriculum level and 12.5% of students (3 students) working below the expected curriculum level.

                                            

It is great to see the increased engagement and confidence during reading lessons. The most exciting 'win' for me was a year 6 student who had been on reading level 8 for an extended period of time, finally moving on to stage 11 during his recent Running Records reading assessment. This was huge for me as this student showed no interest in reading. After having an informal discussion with him, he revealed that although he still dislikes reading, he does find our new reading stories more interesting and not so 'babyish'.  I use less journal stories and use various articles from Kiwi Kids News and Newsela

Using transcripts in conjunction with videos

An interesting tool that I learned from Dr van Hees was using the video transcript along side the video. This allows the students to use their sense of hearing and sight together to make sense of their learning. The transcript from YouTube is not always accurate and you will definitely need to proofread and edit it. It can be done as follows:

 Step 1: Open your video as normal

Step 2: Click the three dots

Step 3: Transcript will pop up on the side

It is easy to assume that the students are able to listen to the video and make sense of it but we've all sang many misheard lyrics to know that this is not always the case.

Banishing Vocabulary Grids

An activity that I always used with my class after reading was a vocabulary map. This was a worksheet that I had adapted from a well-known educationalist. After discussing it with Dr van Hees, I have decided not to use this worksheet any longer, as it didn't really improve the students' vocabulary acquisition. The form took really long to complete and I was getting enough 'bang for my buck' to justify its continued use.

                    


Instead new vocabulary was thoroughly discussed, dissected and used deliberately in many situations. Students are no longer allowed to just copy and paste the meaning from the dictionary. They are still allowed to use dictionaries, if necessary, but the definition must be written in their own words.

New Plan

I had a meeting with Dr van Hees today. She was able to help me make clearer meaning of what I had read in her book. One of the things that I found particularly interesting was Dr Paul Nation's vocabulary lists. I googled it (naturally!). After finding what I thought was 'the' vocabulary test, I administered the test to my students. It was important to me to get another source of testing in order to compare the results at the end of my inquiry.

My students found the set-up of the paper-test very confusing and performed poorly. On showing Dr van Hees the test that I had administered she confirmed that it was not the right test. Instead she talked me through various strategies that were bound to have a positive impact on my students vocabulary-acquisition.

Dr van Hees suggested I tried' deep diving' with my students. Deep diving is unpacking the text using ‘chunking’ to get meaning and to identify the main ideas.  Jannie also suggested using more interesting texts. After looking through the texts that I normally use, she suggested two useful websites, where I could find interesting, levelled reading texts. These websites were National Aquarium of New Zealand and Newslea. I was previously disinclined to use whole-class texts as I have such varying reading levels, from 8- the high 20's. Dr van Hees assured me with proper scaffolding, chunking and having lots of talk accompanying the reading, all students should be able to cope.
We ended our meeting with Dr van Hees gifting me a slide presentation for me to use with my students. I feel really inspired after talking to her and I'm looking forward to deep diving with my students.

Holiday Reading

Reading 'What every primary school teacher should know about vocabulary' by Dr Jannie van Hees and Prof Paul Nation has been really inspiring! I can't wait to try some of the strategies in my classroom!

Word Wall

Like most classrooms in New Zealand I had a word wall where we put up new or interesting vocabulary.
After speaking to Dr van Hees she suggested that the word wall display be more interactive. As well as having a static, permanent display of new vocabulary,  I now duplicate all the words that go onto the word wall. The extra set of words live in a snaplock bag that is also attached to the wall, but these words are now used by students to test their understanding of vocabulary that they have encountered. We also use these words as an end of the day reflection tool - recapping new words encountered during that day. This is also an opportunity for students from different reading groups to explain to the class about the new vocabulary that they have encountered. This serves as another opportunity for children to interact with new vocabulary.

Chain Talking

"Chain talking" is a phrase coined by Dr Jannie van Hees. It relates to the to and fro conversational talking. Each speaker has to listen to what has been said and then add to that conversation, by gifting the listener  more vocabulary.
Chain talking is generally referred to as 'conversation in the classroom'.
This is one of the first attempts of 'chain talking'.